Aluminum electrical wire has been used extensively for branch circuits in structures including homes and mobile homes over the past couple of decades. A fire hazard is believed to occur from overheating caused by high resistance developing at the terminals where the aluminum wire is connected. This high resistance develops over a period of time apparently due to oxidation of the aluminum and relaxation of the forces holding the connection together. This combination of oxidation and relaxation results in high resistance. The electric current, of course, flows when the appliances or lights are turned on or other use of the electrical energy occurs. When electric current flows through the high resistance connection, heat results. since several outlets are usually connected in parallel in a chain-like arrangement within a circuit, current flowing to any particular point of consumption may be flowing through the terminal connections of several wiring devices.
As a result, temperatures of the high resistance connections become very high and terminals which glow red hot have occurred. It has been determined that temperatures may be reached with such wiring devices that are more than high enough to ignite the adjacent construction and household materials.
Perhaps the most favorable factor in minimizing such fires to date is that the development of high resistance at the connections usually progresses slowly. The resulting odor of heat and smoldering on occasion has been enough to detect such a failure. However, reliance upon this happening is hazardous, since this would indicate that the temperature is already dangerously high. Feeling of the wiring devices is obviously a help but again it is impractical to rely on such a method of detection, since at any given time, many of the outlets will not be conducting electrical current.
A detector which can be readily mounted on the wiring device and indicates to the homeowner when a hazard is developing, could prevent the serious consequences of allowing a hazard to go undetected. A detector which indicates an excessive increase in temperature by changing color irreversibly would achieve this desired result.
The use of color change for heat detection has been shown in the following patents:
______________________________________ Inventor Patent Number ______________________________________ Parker 3,827,301 Postal 3,182,153 Ferkel 1,676,536 Linebarger 1,374,857 ______________________________________